Tributes poured in today for former Yorkshire captain Phil Carrick who died last night in hospital at Steeton, near Keighley, aged 47.

Carrick lived with his wife Ellie and daughters Emma, 19, and Philippa, who was 18 on the day her father died, at West Morton, near Keighley. He had been suffering from leukaemia and had been in hospital for the past few weeks.

It is almost exactly two years since the shock death of his colleague and close friend David Bairstow who Carrick succeeded as Yorkshire captain in 1987.

In the first of Carrick's three seasons in charge, Yorkshire lifted the Benson and Hedges Cup at Lord's beating Northamptonshire and this remains their most successful moment over the past 30 years.

Although Carrick was born in Bramley, he was closely associated with the Bradford district and he developed his cricket with Bradford League club Farsley, where former England captain Ray Illingworth, also learned his trade.

Carrick, known throughout the cricketing world as Fergie, made his Yorkshire debut in 1970 and by the time he retired in 1993 he had earned his place as one of Yorkshire's leading all-rounders with 1,018 first class wickets and 9,994 runs.

Only 12 bowlers in Yorkshire's history had a larger haul of wickets than the left-arm spinner and it was always a bitter disappointment to Carrick that he failed by just six runs to complete the rare double of 10,000 runs and 1,000 wickets.

Carrick was the first Yorkshire player to state publicly that he thought the club should open up their boundaries to overseas players and his controversial views were one reason why he lost the captaincy at the end of the 1989 season.

Upon his retirement from first class cricket, he took up a fresh challenge by accepting the captaincy of Pudsey Congs where he played regularly until announcing his retirement on the eve of Yorkshire's Benson and Hedges Cup final against Gloucestershire last August 1.

I travelled to Lord's with Carrick, who had already had two recent spells in hospital as his leukaemia problem grew worse.

But he was in high spirits as he drove to London and was looking forward to doing match summaries for BBC Radio 4.

He talked of his memories of that great 1987 final, which Yorkshire won by virtue of losing fewer wickets after the scores had finished level, and he said how much he wanted to get on the list of first class umpires and go on to officiate at Test level.

For the past two summers, Carrick had been on the reserve list and was waiting for a vacancy to occur at first class level.

Yorkshire's current captain, David Byas, said last night: "I am deeply shocked by the news of Phil Carrick's death.

"David Bairstow was my first captain and Carrick my second and to lose them both at such an early age is a double tragedy.

"Carrick was a very thoughtful captain and you knew that you could learn something when you listened to him.

"There was never any idle chat and he was very forward thinking. He was always trying to keep the game moving forward."

Illingworth, clearly dismayed by news of Carrick's death, said: "He loved his cricket and it is a terrible shock for his family."

Yorkshire cricket committee member Geoff Cope, who formed a highly successful spin partnership with Carrick throughout the 70s, said: "Ever since he was a young schoolboy, Phil's ambition was to wear the white rose of Yorkshire and when he got the opportunity to do so he served his native county with passion and loyalty."

Yorkshire chief executive Chris Hassell said: "All the players will be stunned by the news. They have been visiting him regularly over the past few months and they will be terribly upset."

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